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Exchange program offers student taste of Swiss culture
BRACEBRIDGE — Katie O’Hearn, 17, will embark on a new chapter of her life this August when she begins a year-long trip to Switzerland as part of a Rotary Youth Exchange program.
During the second week of August, the Grade 11 St. Dominic Catholic Secondary School student will begin the trip, which is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bracebridge-Muskoka Lakes.
All across the world, Rotarians host foreign students in their homes during such exchanges.
Leading up to the trip, O’Hearn has been attending functions to learn more about the program.
She is scheduled to go on a four-day trip to Ottawa in May to learn more about the Canadian federal government so she’ll be able to explain it better to people in Switzerland if asked.
O’Hearn will remain in Switzerland until July 2011.
A student from Germany will stay at O’Hearn’s home for the year and attend St. Dominic Catholic Secondary School in her absence.
In Switzerland, O’Hearn will board with four Rotary families for three months each.
She expects to experience all that Swiss life has to offer.
“Each family is different with their own culture,” she said, adding that she can’t wait to taste the country’s world-famous cuisine.
“Everyone says in Switzerland the food is absolutely amazing,” she laughs. “I hear positive things about the culture.”
The young student won’t know exactly where she’ll be staying in Switzerland until May.
“All I know right now is I’ll be speaking Swiss-German,” she said. “I have it on my iPod and I’ve been studying it.”
During her time abroad, O’Hearn will attend high school at the Grade 12 level. She won’t receive any credits for the schooling — the language barrier in part prevents this — but she expects her experience there will land her far ahead of the pack.
“It will be nice to see the world and live as a Swiss person for a year,” she said. “It seems like you are so young when you have to go off to university, so being a full year mentally ahead of some people in terms of life experiences, I’ll probably have a better idea of what I want to do for my future when I get back.”
Overall, such trips can cost between $6,000 and $10,000 per student.
O’Hearn hopes to contribute a good portion of the overall cost herself.
While she doesn’t know exactly how much it will be, she expects she’ll be busy this summer saving money.
Near the end of her time there, O’Hearn plans to take an 18-day trip throughout Europe.
The parameters of the “Euro trip” still have to be established, but she expects it will take her through Austria, Germany and France, among other countries.
“It will be a big experience,” said O’Hearn. “It will teach me so much, which is what I’m looking forward to — the life experiences that you can’t get here in Canada.”
O’Hearn expects to update her blog regularly while in Switzerland.
It’s located at http://katieohearn.blogspot.com/